27–31 July 2026
Draft — subject to change
| Time | Type | Session / Speaker — Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:30–10:15 | Discussion |
Welcome & introductions Scene-setting: goals of the week, participant introductions (1–2 min each). Facilitated by Nikhil Sarin. |
| 10:15–10:45 | Break | Coffee break |
| 10:45–11:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Aleksandra Bochenek (LJMU) "Automated optical follow-up of Swift GRBs with P60: sample characteristics & modelling" |
| 11:15–11:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Rahul Gupta "Probing the Physics of Early Afterglows of Fermi/Swift GRBs and Einstein Probe FXTs through rapid ground-based follow-up" |
| 11:45–12:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Joyce van Dalen (Radboud) "EP241026b and the low Lorentz factor jet from optical/X-ray/gamma-ray modelling" |
| 12:15–13:30 | Lunch | Lunch |
| 13:30–14:30 | Redback |
Nikhil Sarin (Cambridge) Redback hands-on tutorial An introduction to Redback — transient modelling, Bayesian inference, and fitting workflows. Hands-on session: participants are encouraged to bring laptops and install Redback in advance. |
| 14:30–15:00 | Break | Coffee break |
| 15:00–15:45 | Demo |
David Yallup (Cambridge) "blackjax fitting — nested sampling, SMC and other fitting tools in JAX on GPUs" |
| 15:45–16:30 | Discussion |
Transient modelling: approaches, failures, and open questions Led by Conor Omand. What physical models do we have, where do they fail, and what's missing? Degeneracies, model selection across transient classes, and what the next generation of models needs to do. Open floor. |
| 16:30–17:15 | Discussion |
Inference methodology Led by David Yallup & Nikhil Sarin. Samplers, methods, and practical choices for transient fitting. Nested sampling vs MCMC vs SMC, GPU acceleration, when to use what. Open floor. |
| 18:00 | Welcome drinks — venue TBC |
| Time | Type | Session / Speaker — Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:15–09:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Albert Sneppen "Spectral insights into kilonovae: AT2017gfo and AT2023vfi" |
| 09:45–10:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Debatri Chattopadhyay "Neutron Star–Black Hole Binaries: Predictions and Observations" |
| 10:15–10:45 | Break | Coffee break |
| 10:45–11:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Eleonora Loffredo (INAF — remote) "Nucleosynthesis from binary neutron star mergers" |
| 11:15–12:00 | Demo |
Nicholas Vieira (Northwestern) "The Multi-Messenger Treasure TROVE — rapid automated vetting of EM counterparts to GW events" |
| 12:00–13:30 | Lunch | Lunch |
| 13:30–15:00 | Discussion |
The transient sky with next-generation facilities Led by Nial Tanvir (Leicester). A scene-setting talk followed by open discussion: what do ELT, TDT, WST, UVEX, and other next-generation facilities mean for transient science? Survey strategies, multi-messenger preparation, and what the community needs to do now. |
| 15:00–15:30 | Break | Coffee break |
| 15:30–17:00 | Discussion |
Multi-messenger follow-up strategies Led by Nicholas Vieira & Nikhil Sarin. GW event follow-up coordination, sky localisation, candidate prioritisation, cross-facility strategies for O5 and beyond. |
| Time | Type | Session / Speaker — Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:15–09:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Soheb Mandhai "OCARINA — binary population synthesis with galaxy simulations and natal kicks" |
| 09:45–10:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Avishai Gilkis (Cambridge) "Connecting models with observations through synthetic photometry" |
| 10:15–10:45 | Break | Coffee break |
| 10:45–11:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Yuval Ribak (Cambridge) "What powers SLSNe?" |
| 11:15–11:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Ryosuke Hirai (RIKEN) "Binary-driven transients as a probe for binary interaction physics: SN2022jli" |
| 11:45–13:15 | Lunch | Lunch |
| 13:15–14:00 | Demo |
Matt Grayling (Cambridge) "A general approach for constructing templates from spectra and photometry" |
| 14:00–15:00 | Discussion |
Progenitor constraints from transient modelling Co-led by Avishai Gilkis. What can light curves and spectra actually tell us about progenitor systems? Strengths and limitations of current approaches, prospects for progenitor/companion detections. |
| 15:00–15:30 | Break | Coffee break |
| 15:30–16:30 | Discussion |
AI & ML in transient astrophysics: hype, reality, and where we actually need it Led by Nikhil Sarin & TBD. Classification, anomaly detection, emulators for Bayesian inference, LLMs for literature and code — where are ML methods genuinely delivering, and where do we still need physics? |
| Time | Type | Session / Speaker — Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:15–09:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Charlotte Angus (QUB) "TDE Black Hole Mass Estimates in the LSST Era" |
| 09:45–10:15 | Demo |
Nikhil Sarin (Cambridge) "Redback-CSM and Redback-JAX: CSM interaction modelling and GPU-accelerated inference" |
| 10:15–10:45 | Break | Coffee break |
| 10:45–11:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Sorcha Kennelly (LJMU) "Joint optical-radio modelling of superluminous supernovae with Redback: magnetar vs. CSM discrimination" |
| 11:15–12:00 | Demo |
Noah Franz (Arizona) "OTTER — Open mulTiwavelength Transient Event Repository: data access, API, and integration with modelling tools" |
| 12:00–13:30 | Lunch | Lunch & group photo |
| 13:30–14:00 | Talk (25+5) |
Sondos Mohsen-Tanev (TAU) "SNEmcee — fitting SN light curves and a new subclass of slowly-rising, high-velocity SNe IIP" |
| 14:00–14:30 | Talk (25+5) |
Sam Shilling (Lancaster) "Measurements of the geometric properties of GRBs and their implications on the luminosity—decay correlation" |
| 14:30–15:15 | Break | Coffee break |
| 15:15–16:00 | Discussion |
GRBs and fast transients in the multi-messenger context Led by Maria Edvige Ravasio (CSIC/ICE Barcelona). Brief overview of GRBs and fast X-ray transients in the multi-messenger context, recent results, and open questions. Open discussion. |
| 16:00–17:30 | Discussion |
Open working session: software, data standards & community infrastructure 15 min structured discussion (data formats, reproducibility, sustainability of community codes), then open working time. Goal: leave with at least one concrete action item — a named working group, a shared schema draft, or a GitHub issue with names attached. Redback, SNEmcee, OCARINA, OTTER, TROVE and others welcome. |
| Time | Type | Session / Speaker — Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:15–09:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Conor Omand (LJMU) "Multiwavelength modelling of AT2024wpp — the most luminous LFBOT to date" |
| 09:45–10:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Quentin Pognan (AEI) "A systematic grid of LFBOT light curve models: black hole and magnetar central engines" |
| 10:15–10:45 | Break | Coffee break |
| 10:45–11:15 | Talk (25+5) |
Christopher Irwin "Are Luminous Red Novae powered by shock interaction?" |
| 11:15–11:45 | Talk (25+5) |
Laura Cotter (UCD) "A unified multiband model for GRB-SN events with Redback" |
| 11:45–12:15 | Demo |
James Alvey (Cambridge) "Transient inference at scale" |
| 12:15–13:30 | Lunch | Lunch |
| 13:30–15:30 | Discussion |
Open working session: synthesis & collaborations Facilitated by Nikhil Sarin. 15 min structured discussion (gaps in the field, what we didn't cover this week), then open working time — continue Thursday threads, discuss project ideas, hack. |
| 15:30–16:00 | Break | Final coffee break |
| 16:00–16:30 | Discussion |
Closing session Summary of the week's key themes, action items, collaborations identified. Closing remarks by Nikhil Sarin. |